Benediction
by a. loquita
Summary: Jean married Lucien outside of the Catholic church. He can't change that but has a few surprises for her on their honeymoon.


Title: Benediction  
Fandom: Doctor Blake Mysteries  
Pairing: Jean/Lucien  
Rating: PG  
Summary: Jean married Lucien outside of the Catholic church. He can't change that but has a few surprises for her on their honeymoon.  
Notes: Thank you to gabolange for her beta, all remaining errors are my own

* * *

"You may now kiss your bride," the French priest says in perfect English. Lucien gives Jean a chaste kiss, they are in a church after all, and then turns to thank the priest.

Jean must sit down for fear her emotions will get the better of her and her knees will give out, so she finds a nearby pew. Lucien hadn't said a word this morning as they set out walking the Paris streets from their hotel, but it's clear now he had this all planned out in advance. She watches from a short distance as his conversation with the priest concludes. Lucien shakes the priest's hand again, and... Did some money get exchanged in that handshake? She can't quite tell. Leave it to her husband to bribe a priest unashamedly.

Lucien walks over and settles next to Jean in the pew. "So?"

Where to even start? "Thank you." That's an understatement, perhaps the biggest she's ever expressed. "I hadn't realized how much I needed this, and how it mattered, until now."

Lucien smiles and puts an arm around her, his other hand gently strokes near her knee, soothing her. "I'm glad you are pleased."

"You knew, without me even saying. I realize that it's not official but—"

"Not official?"

"Lucien." She can't tell if he's teasing.

The tale he told the priest was largely accurate: they were married two months ago today in Australia, and currently they're traveling Europe on their honeymoon. Jean had always dreamed of seeing the famed Notre Dame Cathedral. Those details are all true. But the way Lucien told it, well, it very much suggested that they were already married in the church and only wishing for a priest to say a blessing over their marriage here in this magnificent place. The young priest was happy to do so.

"I don't know," Lucien says. "We said our vows to each other, again, in this house of God. In front of a priest, who then blessed us. I'm pretty sure that counts."

While Lucien may be teasing, he also isn't totally wrong. She's been at peace for some time with the choices she was making and will never harbor regrets about marrying him, but this is still special to her. It's hard to have any regrets of any kind sitting in a place such as this, surround by beauty beyond her imagination. In this cathedral that has withstood hundreds of years of human history, she is reminded that not only her time on this Earth is short, but her troubles are small in the grand scheme of this building and all that it stands for. For however small her life might be, she has the precious gift of carrying this memory for the rest of it. She is grateful for what her husband means to her and what he would do for her.

These thoughts feel too heavy all the sudden, and she wants the memory of today to always be a happy one.

"So, does this mean I have two wedding anniversaries?" Jean goes for a mix of sarcasm and humor, knowing he'll pick up on it.

The corner of his mouth inches up into an amused smile, like he's proud of her smart sass. "I've just realized the one fatal flaw in my plan. I'll have to come up with two anniversary gifts for you each year." He leans in closer to her ear. "Good thing I already have the first one back at our hotel."

She's surprised again, that his plan has gone this far. "You do?"

"Remember that sheer negligee you saw in a boutique window last week?"

"Oh Lucien, you didn't." She remembers it well, and upon seeing it, the comments she made about the French attitude toward seduction. But that's beside the point— it was clearly a high-end boutique. "It's likely far too expensive!"

"It is meant to serve multiple purposes," he says.

"Purposes?" She pretends not to understand.

"Both a two-month anniversary gift, as well as a gift for our second wedding night."

"Well then." Jean pats his hand, where it has stilled on her knee. "What are we still doing in church?"


End file.
